Heel-making machine



April 20 1926.'

H. N. COPP HEEL MAKING IACHINE Filed Nov. 15-l 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1..0 1u. l 8 5. l P P O C N. H 6. 2 9 l pril 20 HEEL MAKING MACHINE FiledNov. 15

1920 f3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1g. Z. Exim April 20 ,1926. 1,581,101

H. -N. CQPP HEEL l IAKING* ummm 'A Filed Nov. l5 1920 3 SheetsSheet 31.58am 'raar reiten.

HARRY N. COPP, OF SW'AVIPSCTT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASESIIGIJOEL TO UNITEDSHOE MACHINERY CORPORATIGN, OF FATERSON, NEVI JERSEY, YA CORPORATION OFNEW JERSEY.

HEEL-MAKNG MACHNE.

Application lecl November 15, 1920. Serial 110.424,219.

To all v't0/7mm t may concern:

` Be Ait known that l, Hanni N. Corr, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Swamps'cott, in the county of Essex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain improvements in Heel-lilakinglvlachines, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters onthe drawings indicating -ike parts in the several figures.

This invention relate-i to heel making machines and is herein describedand illustrated as embodied in a. machine for producing, practicallyautomatically7 heels. comprisingpieced and whole lifts in combination.

vleels of the character described have been produced commercially formany years by cutting and assembling lifts by hand int-e a die supportedupon a bench with its cutting edge uppermost. This is known in the tradeas the Haverhill die method.

Any hand method cf producing articles made in such quantities as heelsmust, of

' necessity, be slew and involve a relatively high labor cost. Theobject of the present invention is to produce a machine for makingheels, similar to those heretofore made by the Haverhill die process, inan expeditious mannera greatly increasing the preduction of an operativeand correspondingly reducing the labcr cost per unit of product.

in important feature of the invention contributing te this end consistsin means for retrieving a plurality ef pieces of lift material from asupport .upcn which they are assemblial with their edges abutting,transferring them tc, and cuttin them into a die. By a. sui'licientnumaer of repetitions of this operation the desired number of completelifts is accumulated in the die. ln the preferred ferm of the inventionnailing nicchanisin is also provided for securing the lifts togetherwhile they are in the t ic. ln the illustrati ve embodiment of theinvention herein shown Vthe lifts are automatically nailed together asthey are assembled in the die and the heel blank is automaticallyejected .from the die.

inasmuch heels of the type above described usually contain one or morewhole lifts, in combination with the pieced lifts, a further feature cftlie'invcntion consists in the combination with the mechanism abovementioned of mechanism operating in proper time relation thereto forproducing lrom a maggazine and inserting or cutting into the die one ormore lifts which may or may not have previously been died out toapproximately their ultimate size andv shape. rlhese and ether featuresof utility in the invention will be better understood and appreciatedfrom reading the following detailed description of ene embodimentthereof in combination with the accompanying drawings, in which- KFigure 1 is a side elevation of the illustra-tive machine, parts of thebase being broken away to reveal the interior mechanism;

Fig. 2 `is a view partly inelevatlion and partly on a section, takensubstantially at right angles to Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the machine;

Fig. d is a view illustrating a detail of the lift picking mechanism forwhole lifts;

Fig. 5 is a view showing pieces of heel lift stock fitted together,ready to be operated upon by the machine;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a heel produced by the machine; and

Fig. 7 is a view of a detail of the heel blank releasing mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 indicates a base or frame of suitabledesign and construction to support the-operating mechanisms of themachine. A bracket 12 is bolted to the machine base and supports astationary, upwardly facing cutting die let into which the heel liftsare cut and assembled. Two cutting plates 16, 18, operatingalternatively to cut lifts into the die 14 are actuated by mechanismpresently tobe described. The cutting plates 16, 18 are carriedrespectively by arms 20, 22 projecting horizontally, at right angles toeach other, from a swinging head 24 carried by the-upper end of avertically reciprocable and horizontally oscillatory plunger 26 guidedfor .movement in vertical bearings in the base 10.

A bracket 28 is gibbed to the front lot' thev base 10 and may beadjusted vertically by means of a screw 30 upon which it is supported.The bracket 28 carries a table 32 having a spindle 34 extendingdownwardly seV lUU

into a suitable borek in an enlarge-d cylindrical portion 36 of thebracket. The lower end of the spindle 3ft rests upon a substantialspring 38, the position or tension of which may be adjusted by a screw40. A det-achable plate 42 is secured by screws 44 in a recess in thetop of the table 32, with the upper surface of the plate substantiallyflush with the surface of the table. The plate 42 has marked upon it anoutline 46 identical with the out-line of the cutting edge of the die14. It is intended that plates be provided with outlines correspondingto all the dies with which the machine is equipped and, the outsidedimensions of all the plates bilng identical, they are readilyinterchangea e.

The end of the arm 20 is hollowed out to receive a needle plate 48 whichis provided with a plurality of pointed needles 50 projecting throughholes in the cutting plate 16. The needle plate 48 is backed up by aspring 52 which surrounds a spindle 54 projecting upwardly from theneedle plate and pivoted at 56 to a lever 58. The lever 58 is pivotedbetween its ends, to a vertically reciproeable actuating rod 62, thelower end of which lis arranged to engage, at certain times, astationary lug 64 projectingv from the base member 10. t

The outer end of the arm 22 is provided with an internally threaded,vertical opening in which is adjustably secured a supporting member 66for the cutting plate 18. vThe supporting member` 66 also carries aplurality of fingers 68 arranged to engage the edges of a lift or pieceof lift stock and pick it up. The lower ends of the fingers 68 arecurved outwardly, as shown at 70, and each nger is 'pivotally supportedin a block 7 2 arranged for radial adjustment with respect to the.member 66 by means of a screw and slot connection 'i' 4. A spring 76tends constantly to swing the linger 68 inwardly about its pivotandoutward movement of the linger against the tension of the spring iseffected by a rod 7 8 havingatk its lower end a head arranged to engagearms 82 which project inwardly, substantially at right angles, from theupper ends of all the fingers 68. The upper end of the rod 7 8ispivotally connected to one end of a` lever'84 fulcrumed at86 in abracket 88 carried by the arm 22, theopposite end of the lever 84 beingpivoted to a vertically reciprocable rod 90. The lower end of the rod 90carries a pivoted dog 92, shown in Fig. 7, which may swing freely in onedirection with respect to the rod, but not inthe other. The lower end ofthe dog V.is arranged to engage astationary,'inclined cam face 94 as thearm 22is swung horizonltally over the cam.

A stationary table 98, vat the side of the machine opposite to the table32, supports a reciprocable pusher 102 connected by a link 104 to a bellcrank lever 106 which is rocked about a stationary pivot 108 by a rod110 connected to a cam lever 112, the operating means for which willpresently be described.

Power for driving the machine may be derived from any suitable sourcesuch, for example, as a belt 113 driving a pulley 114 mounted upon themain driving shaft 116. The opposite end of the driving shaft 116carries a crank 118 which is operatively connected, through a connectingrod 120 and a rotary thrust bearing 122 to a heavy screw 124. rlliescrew 124 is threaded into the lower end of the plunger 26 and theyupper end of the screw is connected by a rod 126 to an adjusting handwheel 128 at the top of the machine. 1t will be apparent that, with thisconstruction, the plunger and the arms 20, 22 carried thereby, will bereciprocated vertically as the driving shaft 116 rotates.

The driving shaft` 116 is connected by gearing 130 to a shaft 132carryinga worm 134 which meshes with a worm wheel 136 upon a cam shaft138. The cam shaft 138 carries two cams, the center lines of which areindicated in Fig. 1 by dotted lines 140 and 142..

rEhe cam 140 is engaged by a cam roll 144 upon Vthe lever 112 'which ismounted to oscillate about a stationary pivot 146. The cam 142 engages acam roll 148 upon a lever movable about a stationary pivot 152 andconnected by a rod 154 to one arm 156 of a bell crank lever, theopposite arm 158 of which has, at its upper end, a gear segment 160. Thegearsegment160 meshes with corresponding gear teeth upon a sleeve 162which is rotatable in the base 10 but is restrained from verticalmovement therein. A splined connection 164 between the sleeve 162 andthe plunger 26 permits the plunger to reciprocate verticallythrough thesleeve but causes the plunger to partake of any horizontal rotarymovement of the sleeve.

It will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 1 that the cam 142, whichoscillates the plunger 26 and swings the arms 20, horizontally, hasthree rises; while the cani 140, which is fixed with relation-to thecani 142 on the shaft 138 and which operates the blank feeding pusher102, has but one rise. Consequently three horizontal oscillations of thehead 24 and arms 20, will occur for each reciprocation of the pusher102. By this organization the machine is'adaptod to produce the heelblank shown in Fig. 6, consisting of two' pieced lifts and two wholelifts. The relative timing of the driving shaft 116 and the cam shaft188 is such 'that the shaft 116 makes three revolutions to eachrevolution of the cam shaft; the plunger 26 is, therefore, reciprocatedvertically after each of its horizontal oscillations. Y

Any suitable clutch and brake mechanism 170, controlled 'by a treadle172, may be llO ejector rod 188, provided with an adjusting turn buckle190 and operated by a roclf'er arm 192, provides for imparting apositive ejecting movement to the'plate 184. The arm 192 is secured to arocker shaft 194 having a short arm 196 arranged to be engaged by a pin198 upon the side of the worm gear 136.

The operation of the machine isv as follows: Let it be assumed that themagazine 100 contains a supply of whole lifts or pieces from which wholelifts maybe cut.

Preferably, the pieces in the magazine 166.

will be of the same shape as the die 14 and of the same size as the die,or only slightly larger. As shown in Fig. 1, the lower end of themagazine is spaced sufliciently above the table 98 to permit two liftsto be pushed out at a time and the pusher 102 is sutilciently thick toengage two lifts at a time.

Pieces of scrap leather a, b, o, the edges of which have beenstraightened, are fitted together, with their edges abutting, on thetable 32, a sufficient number of pieces being used to cover the outline46. The head 24 now swings to a position in which the arm 2O is over thetable 32, and the plunger 26 moves downwardly until the plate 16 ispressed upon the pieces a, b, 0, the needles 50 entering the said piecesand the spring 38 yielding, if necessary, to accommodate the thicknessofthe Vstock and the fixed stroke of the plunger 26. The plunger 26 nextrises, the pieces a, b, c being picked up by the needles and theirrelation to each other being preserved. The arm 20 now swings through 90degrees to a position over the cutting die 14, the arm 22 at the sametime swinging to a position over the t-able 98 but, inasmuch as no liftshave yet been fed from the magazine 100, the linger 68 will find nothingto pick up. The plunger 26 descends, causing the stock held against theunderside of the cutting plate 16 to be cut into the die 14, thuscutting a' complete pieced lift into the die at a single stroke. As thehead 24 descends to cut the pieces into the die 14 the lowter end of therod 62 will engage the projection 64, causing the pins to be withdrawnfrom the stock and avoiding any danger of their removing the lift fromthe die. The plunger 26 rises and the arm v2Oagain swings to a positionover the table 32, upon which, in the meantime, another group of piecesa, I), o has been arranged to cover the outline 46. rEhe plungerdescends, thepieces are picked up as before, carried to a position overthe die 14 and cut into the die. Upon this swinging movement of the arm2O to a position over the die, and the arm 22 to a position over thetable 98, the pusher 102 is actuated to push two lifts from the magazine106 out upon the table 98 into a position where they will vbe engaged bythe fingers 68 as the plunger 26 descends to cut t-he second pieced liftinto the die. rPhe fingers 68 are pressed by the spring 76 against theedgesv of the lifts with suiiicient force to pick up the pair of wholelifts when the plunger 26 again rises and when the head 24 again swingsto position cutting plate 1.8 over the die 14and the plate 16 over thetable 32 the two lifts held in the fingers 68 are car-k ried toaposition over the die. .The next l.descent of the plunger 26 causesthese lifts to be pressed or cut into the die on top of the twoy piecedlifts already therein,

, As lifts are successively cut into the die, as above described, theplate 184 yields, the lifts being forced upon the nails contained in thetubes 186. As the head 24 rises after the pair of whole lifts is pressedinto the die, the pin 198 engages the lever Varm 196, causing the rod188 to engage the ejector plate 184 and positively eject the heel fromthe die. This occurs simultaneously with the upward movement of thefingers 68 and, at the end of such movement, the plate` 184 is flushwith `the top `of the die, the` heel being held by the fingers 68. `Asthe head 24 a'gain swings,-the dog 92, at the 'lower end of the rod 90,rides over the cam 94, causing the lingers to release the heel and dropit into a discharge chute 200. During the movement of the arm 22inthereverse direction the dog 92 swings idly over the cam, avoiding therelease from the fingers 68 of lifts beingcarried thereby from the ltable 98 to the die 14,

The scrap resulting from the cutting operations falls into a receptaclesurrounding the die 14 and is discharged bya chute 262.

The series of operations above described is repeated indefinitely,producing heels at a very rapid rate compared with the common method ofcutting them into a Haven hill die by hand.`

A valuable adif'antage ofthe present in vent-ion, as compared with otherpower operated die cutting machines that the operative, in handling thepieces of stock, is never required to place his hands near the cuttingdie and thus the danger of multilation of the fingers, which ris adrawback to most power-operated die VcuttingV machines7 is eliminated.Furthermore, a

complete lift is produced at `each cutting stroke of the machine, incontra-distinction to the practice of cutting one piece at a time intothe die as is customary in the methods heretofore used. f

Having described the invention, what is new and desired to be secured byLettersV Patentis:

l. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a liftcutting die, a support upon which a plurality of pieces of stock may bearranged with their edges abutting, and means for removing said piecesfrom the support and transferring them to the die. c

,2. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a liftcutting die, a support upon which aV plurality of pieces of stock may bearranged with theiriedges abut-ting, .and means for removing said`pieces from' the support and thereafter cutting them into the die. Y

. v. In a machine of the class described, the

combination of alift cutting die, a ,support upon which a plurality ofpieces of stock may be arranged with their edges abutting, and means forremoving `allof said pieces simultaneously from the supportandthereafter cutting them into the die.

4. In a machine of the `class described, the combination of a liftcutting die, a support upon -which a plurality of pieces of stock may bearranged with their edges abutting, and means vfor .picking up saidpieces, maintaining their abutting relationship, andcutting-themsimultaneously into thedie. Y

5, In a machine of the class described, the combination o f a liftcuttingdie, afsupport for lift stock, and a cutting'plate movablealternately between positions in which it is ,in register :respectivelywith ithe support andthe die, said plate being provided with means forpicking up stock from the support.

In agheel making machine, the combination of a klift cutting die, a:support upon which a plurality of small ,pieces of stock may beassembled with their edges abutting, a cutting plate :mounted to-oscillate from a position over the support to a position over the die,and needles constructed and arranged to be projected through theplatetopick up the pieces of stock andihold-them against the platewhilethelatter is moving from the support to the die.

7. In a heel making machine, the combination of a lift cutting'die, apluralityiofsupports 'for 'pieces of lift stock, a plurality of .cuttingplates movable alternately .into register-with the die a.iulwitl1.tlierespective 4stock supports, and moans associ-ated with eachcuttingzpl'ate forfpicking up `stockifrom one of the supports.

S. In 4a'heel makingV machine, the combina- 'tion of a stationary liftcutting die, a vertialternately into register .with the vdie rand withthe respective supports.

9. Ina heel making machine, the combination of a lift cutting die,.asupport for lift stock, a cutting plate movable alternately between aposition in which it is in register with the die and :a position inwhich it is ih register with the support, stock holding means associatedwith the cutting plate, and an ejector co-operating with the die toeject a cut blankfrom the die and insert it in the holdin (Y means.

l0. an upwardly facing lift cutting die, `alift carrier movable overthedie, and means for forcing lifts upwardly out of the die into thecarrier. c y

l1. In a heel making machine, the combination of a `lift cutting die, asupport upon which piecesof lift stock suiiicient to produce a completelift may be assembled with th-eiredges abutting, a magazine for wholelift pieces, Kmeans .for feeding ,pieces from the magazine, and meansfor transferring and .cutting into the die first assemblages of piecesto .produce pieced .lifts and then pieces to produce whole lifts.

l2. In a heel .making machine, 'the combination of alift cutting die, areciprocable, oscillating headicarrying a vpair of arms arranged atright angles to eachother, cutting lplates disposed upon the arms to bebrought alternately into register with ythe die by theoscillation=ofthehead, andpower operated means for. alternately reciprocating the headtol move a` cutting v plate ,into cutting engagement with-thedie andoscillatingfthe head to move the other Vcutting Iplate linto regis-terwith the die.

13. In a machine of the class described, the combination ofa-liftreceptacle, reciprocating means for pressinglifts intothereceptacle, a stock fmagazine, kmeans for feeding pieces of stockfrom the magazine, an actuator -fcrthe feeding means,.and means forreciprocating said pressing means a plurality of timesfor*eachoperationof the -actuator for the feeding means.

'14. In aheel v making machine, the combinationofmeans for cutting aypieced lift fromheelstock, 4and means for assembling ,with the saidlift another lift-produced out- -sidevof the machine'.

@15. In a heel making machine, the combination of mechanism kfor cuttingscrap material into apecedheel lift, and means -for assembling with thepiece'd lift a whole lift produced outside ofthe machine.

In a heel machine, thecombination of '16. In :L heel machine, thecolnl'iinzition oi die, feeding means 'for 'feeding pieces of n, liftmagazine, :t lift cuttingv die of the stock from the magazine to apredetermined 10 saine shape as theinagazine, and means for position,and means 'for transferringthe transferring a lift from the magazinetothe pieces from said position to e position in die. register with thedie.

17. In a heel machine, the combination of n. testimony whereof I havesigned my al lift cutting die, a magazine for holding name to thisspeeiieation. pieces of lift stock of the same shape as the HARRY N.COPP.

